There is a heavy subject that I often think about but don’t voice or address. If you are not in the mood for it you might consider skipping the first part of this post.
When I think or read about how Native Americans have been treated, and I try to imagine how different this country would be if their lives had been honored and respected, I just shake my head and feel a lot of shame. It’s not an exaggeration to say, the fact that many Americans are here living the lives they are is on the back of a mass elimination of human beings that were here long before any Europeans landed in the Americas. Not a fun history to think about but it’s the reality. Then you add slavery on top of that and it’s quite a dark period in our story.
How many Americans do I wonder have read the history and accounts of how Native Americans were treated by settlers and the US government? I’m sad to say I have only read one, Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee. As the author, Dee Brown states, “This is not a cheerful book, but history has a way of intruding upon the present, and perhaps those who read it will have a clearer understanding of what the American Indian is, by knowing what he was.“ It’s painful to hear of the heartless campaign to destroy the Native American culture and “replace it with the white man’s civilization.” The following quote and assessment still sounds relevant and likely set a precedent for how much of the land and resources of the US and world have been consumed and destroyed by greed and ignorance in the name of progress.
“To the Indians it seemed that these Europeans hated everything in nature - the living forests and their birds and beasts, the grassy grades, the water, the soil, the air itself.”
On a more positive note, here are a few other books that I found incredibly valuable that are authored by Native Americans. The first is The Lakota Way by Joseph M. Marshall III, which was a delight to listen to. These old stories and wisdom ring true to me and touch on something that is missing or that never was in the culture I was raised by. Where are the truly wise elders in our celebrities and politicians? Who do you look up to and why? What stories have these people shared that have helped you to learn about the world and how to navigate its perils and challenges?
Each chapter in the book shares an ancient story, with lessons about humility, perseverance, respect, honor, love, sacrifice, compassion, truth, bravery, fortitude, generosity, and wisdom. Talk about a self-help book that gets at what’s important.
“Humility was a virtue that the Lakota of old expected their leaders to possess. A quiet, humble person, we believed, was aware of other people and other things. An arrogant, boastful man was only aware of himself. Interestingly, our methods of selecting leaders today seem to favor the arrogant and boastful.”
Lastly is a book by Don Miguel Ruiz Jr., son of the well-known author of The Four Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz. At some point, I will write more about each agreement and what they mean to me. This truly is an amazing book full of wisdom. One of the big questions that keep coming up in the book is this. Are you using knowledge, or is knowledge using you? Give it a listen or a read. There is a lot to learn.
“The primary tool one uses to domesticate oneself is self judgement. Using my archetypal model of what “I am Miguel” is supposed to mean, I see upon looking at my reflection all the perceived flaws or inadequacies, and my domestication springs into action. I am not smart enough, I’m not attractive enough, I don’t have enough, I’m lacking this or that, and so on. Self judgement resides where self acceptance wishes to be. Our attachments to these self judgements can become so normal that we don’t even recognize them as condemnations anymore. We accept them as a part of who we are. But at a very basic level our self judgements are all consequences of what we believe about ourselves at our core. Wether we accept or reject ourselves. Of all the beliefs to detach from this is the most important one. Let go of the attachment that you must obtain some image of perfection in order to be happy.”
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